As we’ve discussed, the Duchess of Cambridge was actually involved in a cool project which ended up turning out to be really moving and beautiful. Kate announced the Hold Still open-entry photography contest back in May, and by September, she had worked with the National Portrait Gallery to cull the thousands of submissions into 100 winning photos of life in lockdown. Since September, Kate has done a couple of events and made a few statements about Hold Still, and some of the images were used for “public display” around London. This thing is turning in Kate’s Garden, right? It’s her one big thing of the year, and she’s going to do a dozen events around it. Anyway, Kate released a video praising the exhibition:
Thank you for being part of #HoldStill2020!
The portraits that illustrate your stories and experiences of lockdown have shown just how much communities have come together during this difficult year. pic.twitter.com/FXlaSl42zh
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 15, 2020
Kate’s definitely got a thing for weird shoulders on dresses and jackets. Such a dated look, but I get that the puffy shoulder is “back” in style these days. Kensington Palace also released a clip of Kate’s Zoom call with the photographer and subject of one of the Hold Still photos. The subject is a redhead nurse (Johannah Churchill) who is photographed in her PPE. Kate sounded somewhat emotional speaking to Churchill:
Earlier this week, The Duchess was able to speak to Johannah Churchill, one of the finalists for #HoldStill2020, and whose portrait ‘Melanie, March 2020’ was recreated as a mural in Manchester as part of the community exhibition. pic.twitter.com/UpqH0k8cD8
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) November 15, 2020
I think it’s nice. Hold Still was by far the best project Kate has ever been involved with, and I’m also moved to tears when I think about how hard the nurses and doctors are working this year.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, social media.
I did like the Hold Still project, I thought it was moving and I think the photos are going to be ones that will resonate with people for years to come.
That said, its TOTALLY this year’s Garden, lol.
Yep it is – milking it and then some, Still nothing on the 5 questions.
Wonder how long it will be before we see Top CEO out in The Crown cosplay – u just know she is taking notes from the Diana styling.
How many engagements has she got from this project? And the garden that went on tour like a pop star? And that 5 Questions survey that never went anywhere (and question 5 was fill in your own response).
Check out the blue cardigan she wears in the second video – Boden (Abercorn cardigan). It has a hilarious scalloped bib collar. There’s some nice cardigans on the website, but she has picked the strangest and fussiest item.
The second video where we just hear her speaking, I’m still shocked that she can’t put one sentiment together without two uhs, stumbling on words and it just not sounding polished. People magazine said, her voice crackled with emotion lol. It sounds like she just wasn’t prepared, as usual.
Kate did something nice and this is actually a good project. That is all.
This project was created by NPG and was executed entirely by them. It was a favor to include her as a figure head, but she had nothing substantial to add to it besides sometimes showing up for photo ops or recording a message that counted as a work engage.
The project itself was wonderful, but I’m not sure how she gets all the credit. She even blew off the end. The queen had to step in.
Great idea and good project. Impact is a bit meh. Could have built so much goodwill and PR around it in so many ways but she put in the bare minimum except for her outfits. Sadly it will go the way of the garden that took the Queen, her husband, her children and other royals attendance for it to get any traction. She just does not sell.
What about the impact is a bit meh? What should she have done differently? I get why she is criticized, often rightfully so, she’s not exactly out there moving and shaking things, but I’m not sure how she could have made this more impactful.
Yeah I agree with the above sentiment. They were living in lockdown when the project was launched. What was Kate supposed to do? Stroll around the streets of London meeting with people in person maskless (since she and William tend to not wear them) and ask them to send in pictures? The project got a ton of PR and the Kensington Palace social media channels talked about it pretty consistently for months. In the end, it wasn’t Kate who made the project impactful, it was the public at large with their 31,000 submissions. This was never supposed to be about Kate anyways, it was about all of the UK living life during a pandemic. Which was the whole POINT of Hold Still.
Even during lockdown she could have done much more. Encouraged budding photographers for instance. Done something with a photography charity for instance. Fund raise for instance (not the useless pretend carrying of an empty box with a photographer in tow). Maybe even do a book of the photos and the sales go to the NHS for instance. My point is, she does the barest minimum. More effort is put into her hair and clothes than into her work. Face it ladies she is lazy. She wasn’t called dolittle for nothing.
Yeah, I agree with Elizabeth Regina. Doing a virtual series with beginning photographers or a Zoom collaboration would have been amazing with this. As it is, just standing there announcing it and “helping to choose the winners”…it’s fine, but could be better.
Great project, hate the shoulders on that jacket.
Good project. That’s all I got.
Good project, but good Lord, what is going on with her face? I actually leaned back in my chair bug-eyed as I scrolled down and saw her photo. She looks SO tired and strange. I can’t put my finger on it, but something is very different about her face. She’s starting to look emaciated I think.
They say once you get to a certain age, you chose between your ass and your face.
Kate already made that decision over ten years ago. The botox and fillers are too much at this point.
Her face looks a LOT thinner, more rectangular, cheekbones more pronounced. I think she’s lost more weight, and at her size, even 5 lbs shows.
She’s wearing less make up. No panda eyes to be seen.
She lightened her eyebrows to match her hair.
She’s gone way over the top with the work she’s getting done instead of letting her aging show more. She’s also even thinner than before.
She looked quite good when she did the sunflower event. She should stay with that.
Someone read the comments here, no more lamps going out of her head in the new video angle. Mural is great.
Dated outfit but at least professional. Kate seemed really into it and moved and since she can’t fake being keen it’s nice to see.
I like her hair colour here.
And I would wear the shit out of those weird puffy shoulders if I was built like her. As an ex swimmer with broad shoulder though… not as flattering.
Same! I’m into her hair colour in the red jacket photos.
How much blonder is she going to go? Should we expect full-on Diana blond by the time of the statue unveiling next summer?
I am confused about the progression of her hair this year. She had “Melania-esque” highlights mid-summer, but by fall, I thought she went back to a darker brown. Now she is back in “”Melania Hair” territory? Also, the blonde highlights look terrible on her and age her considerably.
Wigs? It certainly would explain a lot!
This woman is disappearing before our eyes.
She finally looks exactly like the Paul Emsley portrait when looking head on. Photoshop and surgery can only hide so much.
More opportunities for Kate stans to grovel at her. Her hair looks like a lions mane.
Just wanted to say that the video editor did a MUCH better job with this video than the last. Someone also should be congratulated for the work done in making Kate appear natural long enough to make those cuts with B-roll.
Does her team read celebitchy? They clearly realised having wall sconces sprouting out of the top of her head was not a good look!
Seeing how she has been milking Hold Still! for all it is worth, I am shocked by her inability to string together a few coherent sentences during a Zoom call. You would almost think that English is not her first language.
Too funny how she can’t pronounce the word ‘experience’ correctly: she says EX-peri-ence instead of the correct pronunciation which is ix-PER-ience.
And no, this is not nit-picking over regional variants, but a complete mispronunciation of the only acceptable way to say the word correctly; Kate wrongly places the word stress on the first syllable instead of the second and says ‘ex’ instead of ‘ix’. Two mistakes in one word, that is quite remarkable for a native speaker!
All that expensive education… what was it for?